New 13ft 1988 Burro Owner

[Aar0n]

My wife, daughter, and I drove to Palo Alto this weekend and came home with our very first trailer. She's a 30-year-old Burro, and I think it might be love.

We've been looking at teardrop trailers (new and used) for over a year and hadn't really considered egg campers because we love cooking outdoors and we saw some pretty slick outdoor kitchens on the teardrops. When we saw this Burro on CL, we realized that it's about the same price and weight as a teardrop, but it can easily sleep our daughter, both dogs, and the two of us. And the kitchen is just inside the door.

She's in pretty great shape for her age, with almost everything except the floor appearing to be original. We can see that the door has been re-sealed, and a new axle has been installed with new tires.

I don't mind sharing that the seller was asking a firm $7,900, which we felt was reasonable. We were the first people to see her, and we decided on the spot that she was for us. I imagine somebody else would have swooped her up if we didn't.

We're super excited to start renovating.

Remodel plans
Stage 1:

• Install shelving in closet with racks on the door.
• Reupholster all the cushions
• Replace kitchen backsplash (vinyl adhesive tile)
• Replace the ceiling carpet ("aluminum" adhesive vinyl)
• New curtains and curtain rods
• Paint the cabinet doors
• Replace the warped closet door
• Replace the missing thumb-screws that hold the front window rock-guard up.
• Lots and lots of cleaning

Stage 2:

• Make or buy an awning (and repair the exterior holes where the previous awning presumably used to be)
• Tongue Box for the battery
• Replace the three kitchen light figures (LED).
• Replace the roof vent with a fan (and figure out how to wire it)
• LED Exterior lighting

Photos:
















I'm excited to have found this community.

Being new to trailer ownership, I'm happy to have found such a rich source of information. I googled "Burro Trailer Manual" and found much more.

See you in the forums!

/Aaron

[Borrego Dave]

Welcome to FGRV Aaron, looks like you found a nice one .

[Melly]

Welcome! We upgraded from a teardrop to a lil' bigfoot last fall because we now have a child and we wanted to start bringing our 100 pound dog. Best thing ever! We still cook outside on our coleman though. Slowly working on ours as well. Enjoy your new purchase, you will love it!

[Kai in Seattle]

Congratulations! A great to-do list, I remember the days when we had such things on our to-do list with Peanut, our 16' Amerigo. It's the two of us in separate beds (28" wide for thinner Paul, and 32" wide for me and Cinder, the climbing younger pug). Paul has a double curtain for privacy and we have a porta-potty set up as well...your trailer is very cute (as they so often are) and I hope your love affair with her lasts a long time!


Have you named her yet? Many of us have named our trailers. Ours is "Peanut," one shell with two nuts in it.


Happy trails to you, happy tails to your dog, a nd hi to your daughter.

BEST
Kai

[felix2]

Congrats - looks to be in good condition. When I picked my '82 up, it was absolutely disgusting inside - wet dog smell, mildew, leaking windows etc. I did a complete restoration:

Tore out everything and installed bamboo cloth headliner over reflectix, and sheet cork on the walls behind the cushions; New axle and tires including spare; new wiring, 12V & 120V outlets, 30A Intellivolt converter/charger, and new detachable power cord; new LED taillights and marker lights; new propane lines and new stove; new water system and water pump (found the exact replacement water tank too!); new stainless sink and high-rise faucet; new custom glass slider windows all around; new vent/fan; new door hinges and a stainless deadbolt; new custom fit high-density foam cushions (reversible with a different, compatible fabric on the back for a varied decor if desired) because I didn't want to sleep on 30+ years of old farts and dog pee; new custom countertop and tables with formica to complement cushion fabric, edged in aluminum; matching fold-up counter extension; all LED lighting, including in all overhead cabinets and pantry; Cork flooring; lined all under-seat storage cubbies with reflextix (no exposed fiberglass to snag stowage); new deep cell marine battery; new propane tank; new jack stand; new safety chains; addded front stabilizer jacks; new 7-pin connector; new shelving in pantry; Ikea kitchen accessory rail system (holds utensils, spices, etc).

It was a great project that took about 4 months for the bulk of it, with ongoing omprovements as we used it and discovered needs. We love our Burro. We get nothing but compliments everywhere we go...the Burro is definitely the 'cutest' FG trailer ever made.

You'll love towing it - you won't even notice it's there. Towing it home you've probably noticed that short trailers can be difficult to back up - but you'll get to be an expert after 3 or 4 years!

We'll be selling ours soon, unfortunately...we will be upgrading to a slightly larger trailer with a bathroom and larger 3-way fridge, as we'll be taking longer trips when we retire soon. We'll sure miss it though -congrats again! If I can advise let me know - there's lots of good info on this site and folks are very helpful.

[Aar0n]

Thanks for the warm welcome all! We haven't named her yet, we've been calling her The Burro and that seems to fit well enough until inspiration hits.

Thanks to another forum member for turning me on to the U-Haul Camper Trailer group on Facebook, I just joined there as well. https://www.facebook.com/groups/UHaulCamper/

The winter has been quite productive. Projects have included: LOTS of cleaning, replacing the air vent with a fan, replacing the lighting with LED fixtures, all new homemade upholstery and curtains, replacing the ceiling carpet with faux tin-roof in a fleur-de-lys pattern, with dimmable UV blacklight LED's running along the edges, shelves installed in the closet, new faux-tile backsplash for the kitchen and some painting of wood and new hardware. We're almost done with everything, prepping for a short maiden voyage next weekend. Here are some photos of the projects along the way:

[Jakapp]

Looks like a good one. I purchased a 78 Burro a year ago. Love it but it’s got some issues-door is not in good shape-can’t find a replacement (take good care of the one u have). Minor things that I can do myself - I need a fiberglass person. Those are hard to come by also.

[BudsT]

Aaron, Love what you did! I saw those faux tin sheets the other day and was thinking about doing that to our Burro. Was thrilled to see you posted a photo of your project!
Did you put anything under it to take up some of the extra space and unevenness? We purchased some of the foil bubblewrap insulation to put up first. How did you attach the faux sheets to the ceiling? Those sheets only come 24", and in some places our space is almost 25", did you have that as well and if so what did you do about that? Yours looks fantastic!!!
Thanks for any advise!

[Green Frog]

Congrats from a fellow Burro-ista. My ‘83 came to me in a partially restored condition several years ago and is still a work in progress. Most pressing needs are to re-hang and re-seal the door and repair or replace the front window and roof vent. I’m a bachelor and boonie-camp by myself in it, so some of the niceties are not so critical for me.

I hope your new (to you) Burro will fit your needs as well as mine has for me.

Regards,
Froggie